The technique of Robert Browning in "my last duchess" is known as a dramatic monologue. This is so because all the poem is expressed in one voice only, as oppossed to a dialogue, where more voices would appear. And it is dramatic because it contains all the elements of drama.
Western Europe 1450-1750 the Roman Catholic church would no longer maintain its unity as a result of the Protestant Reformation ( new sects like Anclicanism,Lutheranism and Calvinism), Wars over religion (30yrs war) would see 1/3 of the population decimated, however reforms of the Catholic church (counter reformation)
